Information

1st workshop : 30th July to 3rd August - 5daysMost Precious RelationshipSometimes the relationship between a client and therapist is practical and instrumental. Sometimes it is deep and personal. Sometimes the therapist is providing a technical service and the client is just a customer. Sometimes, however, the relationship with the therapist becomes, for a time, an important (or even the most important) relationship in the client’s life. Sometimes it is the relationship that is keeping the client from suicide. The depth of trust depends upon conditions. A level is established naturally, but it is important that the therapist provide the conditions for this to happen in an optimum way. Thus there is a great responsibility upon the therapist to create conditions where the appropriate level can be found and sustained for the necessary period. Life can be viewed as a network of relationships and generally people seek stability in their relationship constellation. However, the therapy relationship is different in being intentionally time limited and catalytic rather than permanent. Relationships have many degrees of intensity and different qualities. In therapy we can distinguish the different types of relationships that form and the different effects that these can have upon the life of the client. These relationship mirror the relationships that the client has in ordinary life, from the most instrumental to the most intimate. In the spiritual life too, relations within a sangha or between a master and disciple may take on a similar constellation of forms. In this workshop we shall look at the therapeutic relationship from a number of different perspectives and at how it interacts with the past, present and future family, friendship and other relationships of the client, creating the conditions for personal growth, transformation and liberation.

2nd workshop: 6th August to 10th August - 5daysEntering the Cave of VijñanaThe client says, “I know what I should do, but something stops me.” Why do we defeat ourselves? Do we really know why we makes the life choices we do? Usually not. We rationalise after the event. Therapy explores matters hidden within the psyche of the client. When the word vijñana is translated as “consciousness” in Buddhist books, this is somewhat misleading. “Consciousness” suggests the material that one is fully aware of. When Buddha talks about vijnaña he is talking about levels of the mind of which we only have partial awareness, or no awareness at all. In life we have to take many things for granted and we build up a store or repertoire of ways of dealing with the world. In Western psychology this is sometimes called the “frame of reference”. Entering the client’s storehouse is like going into a cave. We take a little light, but we are surrounded by darkness. The cave is full of samskaras - patterns, expectations, karmic seeds, old scores, habits, superstitions and archtypes. We can mostly only tell what is going on by induction. We do not have direct perception, but can discern the client’s way of approaching life and intuitively enter into an empathic understanding that gives some feel for what is happening deeper down. Sometimes the job of therapy is to bring these hidden contents up into the light of consciousness, but usually doing so is not healing in itself and is never a permanent solution. The deeper mind needs to be able to function without interference in its mysterious ways, but when it is creating trouble, some change has to be sought and this is the job of therapy and spiritual growth. It is not sufficient to know the right way to behave: many people know what they should do, but do not do it. There are stronger forces at work than the merely conscious and rational and this is why Buddha talks about vijñana. In this workshop we shall examine these fundamental aspects of therapy and seek skilful mans to bring about healthy change in ourselves and others.

3rd workshop: 13th to 16th August - 4daysMaster ClassFour days of therapy demonstration and reflection. Participants should be willing to discuss their own lives, interact with the therapist and be willing for these interactions to be discussed by the participant group. This is a workshop primarily for people with some experience of psychotherapy, preferably both in the role of therapist and client. Participants should have attended at least one of Dr. Brazier’s courses previously. There will be opportunity to discuss the fine points of the therapy process on the basis of live examples. This is an excellent way to learn and to develop one’s therapeutic intuition. The art of therapy cannot be mastered merely by imitation, but we can learn from observing the example of others, just as an apprentice learns at the side of the master but then must go and be a master him or herself and produce unique work. Again, no two pieces of therapy are identically the same. Thus we are learning to appreciate the art, not merely the techniques. People are not machines: they grow and develop in meaningful ways. Each is on his or her spiritual journey, yet we are, in another sense, all in this together. In the histories of the great Buddhist masters, it was generally a significant encounter that brought about their illumination. Only when we open our heart to another can we heal and be healed.

Dr David Brazier, English Buddhist teacher, President of International Zen therapy Institute, is a doctor of philosophy in Buddhist psychology. He lectures internationally on Buddhism, psychology and psychotherapy. He is the author of ten published books with another in press. His best known books are Zen Therapy and The Feeling Buddha. His next book is a detailed analysis of the text Genjo Koan, by Japanese Zen Master Dogen. Dr. Brazier lives in semi-retreat in a remote part of France but spends part of each year travelling, teaching and giving personal consultations. In addition to his psychotherapeutic work, he has been an innovator in the fields of social aid and of mental health in a number of countries, including refugee aid in India, post-war rehabilitation in Bosnia and a number of initiatives for psychiatric patients and deprived youth in Britain. He has been a founder of spiritual communities and is the head of the Amida Shu, a Pureland Buddhist order practising devotion to Amitabha Buddha.

Discussion Forum

MORNING SESSIONSMALL GROUPS Review the work of yesterdayDEMONSTRATION SESSION Client talked about fluctuating energy levels and difficulties in relationship with significant person in her current life. Therapist elicited a little of the history and…Continue

MORNING SESSIONSMALL GROUPSReviewing work of yesterdayLECTURETopics1. The Four immeasurables: Love, Compassion, Sympathetic joy, Equanimity (Maitri, Karuna, Muditas, Upeksha)2. The therapy process model (similar material to last week, but in a bit…Continue

MORNING SESSIONREFLECTIONMind/heart precedes states. Mind/heart is chief. Mind made are they. Act with impure heart, suffering follows as the wheel the hoof. Act with pure heart, blessings follow as a shadow that never leaves- Therapy is an attempt…Continue

MORNING SESSIONLECTUREThis lecture established the importance of encounter in the Buddhist tradition. In the stories of great masters, most became enlightened as a result of an inter-personal encounter. The sutras are full of accounts of encounters…Continue

MORNING SESSIONINPUTBrief input on the nature and purpose of psychotherapy, distinguishing it from utilitarian counselling. Some counselling seeks simply to solve practical problems and this is useful, but psychotherapy aims to achieve a deeper…Continue

MORNING SESSIONINPUTOne of the demonstrations from yesterday could be analysed as the following sequence:CONTACT -> WARM UP -> PERMISSION -> CATHARTIC SHIFT ->WORKING THROUGH (including integration & secondary insights)This sequence…Continue

MORNING SESSIONREVIEWIn small groups reviewing learning so far.INPUTThe rest of the morning was taken with a lecture on the 18 dhatu sense bases and the five skandhas.- The six senses each have an object, an organ and a power. 6x3=18 dhatu. In the…Continue

It is OK to be human."Should" is an obstacle to therapy.RUPA -> VEDANA -> SAMJNA -> SAMSKARA -> VIJNANAVIJNANA = Intention -> AttentionMORNING SESSIONQUESTIONSWe had an extensive discussion around the matter of explicit and implicit…Continue

MORNING SESSION18 people in the group, 6 of them new.INTRODUCTORY REMARKS - Can we develop a Buddhist theory of the unconscious? - Buddhism is substantially about how to free ourselves from compulsive habits that we do not understand - Although the…Continue

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How great it is to sit with the therapist and experience a new dimension of working through process for the part of the client for herself. Motivation and doubt become clear and finally she can choose what she wants and knock the door toward a neutral Karma, that is different from previous ones. By then, issue or tension she brought at the beginning disapeares and finally she comes to tranquility and peace.The issue may not be an issue any more or any longer( I am not sure which is correct). Motivation is clear, and the doubt goes on and on! Doubt of what, why, from and to where, and etc., a long way to go with. Thank you for the experience and for the mindful teacher who says he is in love with all of the clients.

Good morning, it's nice to know that you are teaching these days in Asia! I wonder if it's still possible to join some workshop. Please, could you provide us with some link to practical info about the courses?

Born: September 13, 1919, London, United KingdomDied: October 10, 2018

Mary was a dear friend and inspiration. I first met her when she came to a meditation class I was leading. Her husband had recently died and she was grieving. She did not need meditation, she just needed to grieve and that be OK, which it definitely was, but she continued to come to meetings and made a…

I am currently leading courses on Buddhist psychology here in Seoul, Korea, but as I am putting the course onto this site as we go along, members of La Ville au Roi (Eleusis) are also responding so it is a bit as though the course is going on in several countries at the same time which is nice.

For fifteen years the writer Varlam Shalamov was imprisoned in the Gulag for participating in “counter-revolutionary Trotskyist activities.” He endured six of those years enslaved in the gold mines of Kolyma, one of the coldest and most hostile places on earth. While he was awaiting sentencing, one of his short stories was…